National Treasures & Important Cultural Properties
of National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan

Little is known about this sutra case other than that it was reportedly found near the city of Dazaifu in Fukuoka Prefecture. It is shaped like a jeweled stupa with a main body, roof, and spire. All three parts are made of cast bronze, giving the case a sturdy construction. The main body has a lid flush with the surface at the shoulder and an inscribed door on the side. The base of the main body has a circular bronze plate fitted in a raised position in the bottom. Inside the container, there are traces of two statues of buddhas and sutra scrolls having been stored inside as well as an inscription in fine lines indicating the regnal year Eikyū 4 (1116). The stupa has a pyramidal roof with descending corner ridges covered in ridge tiles (tsutsumi-gawara) rendered in incised lines on bronze plates. Sacred jewel-like ornaments are near the edges and wind bells (fūtaku) hang from the ends of the hip rafters. The two statues are simplified renderings of small bronze buddhas with both shoulders covered by monastic robes. The figures are presumably the historical buddha Śākyamuni and Tahō (Skt. Prabhūtaratna) that appear in the “The Emergence of the Jeweled Stupa,” the 11th chapter of the Lotus Sutra. A bronze bell was also found with the sutra case.

The excavation details are unknown, but the work is nevertheless a rare and excellent example of a sutra case shaped like a jeweled stupa inscribed with its year of production. It is also distinct for being one of very few sutra cases to have contained statues. The statues themselves are valuable as well as gilt bronze buddhas from the Heian period (794–1185) with a known period of production.